Monday, December 27, 2010

My Schooldays: 'I never missed a day of school'

ACTRESS-CUM-EMCEE Julie Woon, 26, hosts the 8TV Quickie slot and the station's game show Whack It! The lead actress of TV series Blogger Boy cites Wolverine as her favourite comic book character but unlike the brooding anti-hero, Woon "can hardly ever get angry!".

The Bachelor of Commerce in Economics and Marketing graduate from Curtin University of Technology lives by her motto "Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalise on what comes". She has been working since she was 15 to earn pocket money. A model since she was 18, she hosted Astro's SuperSport programme, Absolute Football, in 2006.

The following year, she hosted Star World's Championship Gaming Series, also over Astro. She also anchored ntv7's Motorsports@Petronas, which covered all types of motorsports that the national oil company is involved in, such as Formula 1, A1GP, MotoGP and Formula Nippon.
Woon says one of the highlights of her career is interviewing Italian professional motorcycle racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, who won the 2010 MotoGP World Championship title.

Another memorable event was flying to London, United Kingdom to interview the Clash of the Titans director Louis Leterrier and cast such as Sam Worthington and Gemma Arterton.

Woon answers questions on her schooldays:

Which primary and secondary schools did you attend?

SRK and SMK Damansara Jaya in Selangor. I was a prefect and was VERY studious in primary school. I was into sports. I took part in long jump and high jump, played badminton and tennis, and went bowling and swimming.

I never missed a day of school even when I was sick. I had to always be first in class and I read PMR and SPM books in Standard Six because I finished all revision and textbooks for my year!

I attended some nine tuition classes in a week (including ballet, piano and Mandarin)! I couldn't stop reading even during school holidays and weekends.

I was very close to my teachers and I'll never forget Ms Lily Lee Lee Lee! Her name is so cool.

I don't remember much about secondary school because I wasn't as active as in primary school. But I should have enjoyed school life back then and taken my time to grow up.

The children around my home were all males so I had to play Transformers toys with my brother and our neighbours. Needless to say, I grew up quite boyish.

I learnt taekwondo until I was an exam shy of black belt and I quit to take ballet classes!

Did you have a favourite teacher and why did you like him/her?

I like those teachers who gave me As!

What subject(s) did you like at school?

Mathematics, English and Physical Education (it's a subject too!).

Were you rewarded for good performance by your parents? If yes, in what way.

When I scored straight As for PMR and UPSR, my mum gave me a pat on the head and said "Good!".

What was your best (and worst) school holiday?

The best school holiday was when I went to Gold Coast, Australia. The worst was the year I had chickenpox.